The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-03-12
PLANS FOR NAVAL VESSELS
A STATEMENT FURNISHED BY
SECRETARY WHITNEY
Touching the Methods Employed by
the Department 10 Pro-
cure Them.
CIVIL SERVICE INVESTIGATION
OF APPOINTMENTS
Made by Postmaster Harrity, Of
Philadelphia The Bay State
Club Dinner.

WASHINGTON, Marco 1l.-SscrttsrJ
Whit 1ey today furnished a statement
touching the method employed by toe
Navy Department to procure plans for
naval ves,els aud machinery. Con-
cerning the reported discharge OF the
draughtsman. Te ry. at he Cha h AN
dock yards, England, hs says: There
is no truth in any statement which
connects the Navy Department with
anything clendestine in the way of OBJ
tanning plans abroad or thu secrets Of
foreign g9vernmsnts. 1t Is the bust.
ness Ct every government 10 know
what Implements of war ara possessed
by the Others, togstbec with tpeir
characteristics, aod the information
can be easily obtained If the necsssa.
~ troub is taken without he necss-
sity OF resortiUg to any ques,ionab'
method. Rslative to the putchase by
the department of designs made by
the Oh Of constructor, Waite, Of toe
English sdmiraltv, Secretary Whitney
says that Mr.. White was not chief
constructor OF the Admiralty when he
made and the department purchased
the designs, but was in the employ Of
Sir William Armstrong & Go. The
Secretary qdotts from Secretary Chan.
dler's annual report for 1884 where be
spoke in terms of high commentator
of the finn. He then proceeds as fol-
Iowa:
aft RI he construction of the Els.
meralda. they built the Naniws-K an
for the Japanese Government, which
YVES an improved Esmeralds, and on
her trial she YVES reported to have
made nearly nineteen k cots, the high
est speed then reached by any unsr-
mored cruiser. decided TO purchase
the woI king drawings of THE ship and
her machinery for the purpose of
placing them at the disposal OF our
naval chi'ects, TO zee by what
method they attained 30 much crest ,r
speed over there than We were able to
reach here. While the matter was
being negotiated toe Armstrong;,
through their naval trcbitect, Mr..
" hite, made still later design, which
is called 'No. 81 which they offered
in composition to the Spanish Gov
eroment, from which they guaranteed
either nineteen or nineteen and one
half knobs speed II forget for the mo.
ment which,, The vessel being some-
what larger than the Naniwa-Ksn.
This design was not rejected by tho
Spanish Government, although in
the competition it did not
win. The Thcmpkinsons having
agreed to guarantee twenty knuts
speed upon boat of larger displace-
ment, were given the contract, and
are now building the boat for the
Spanish Government. The boat which
the Thompsons proposed to the Span.
ish Government was out cf the ques-
ton for us, hecsuse it wBs roo large in
tonnage, and 100 expensive to come
within the limits fixed by the statutes.
and should not have bought the
plans of that boat even at the sans
price. They were offerad to US at the
price of $4,000, which offer ieje' ted
and preferred the designs of the Arm.
strongs and Mr.. White. / fi1ally
closed the contract for the plans of the
two boats, the Naniwa Kan and what
is known ss "No. 81" for 49,, 900 less
than it would have cost TO make them
with our own men, l think 1t WAS
for the purpose OF laying before cur
pOUplO vel
in the way oil fast cruiser of the con
Germ supposed to be the best comstruc'
tors in the world among private ship
builders of this class Of boats.
The machinery Of the Nanisa-
Kan was the design Of the
Hawthornes, and that of "No. 81"
the design OF MessIs. Humphreys &
Tenant, recognized as concerns rank
ing with the highest in England in
the way Of marine machinery. After
these plans had been received here,
was frequently applied to by our chin
builders to let them have copies. 1t
was the first time that detailed work
ing drawings had been had of an en-
tire ship, aud it then occurred to me
that it would be an excellent plan to
reproduce the machinery OF these two
vessels in 80 of the five ships that
we were about to build, and this
course was earnestly urged upon me
by the ship builders who examined
the plans. Letters have been written
ONE to that effect by MIR. Roach's
expert, Mr.. Faron; by the Harlan u
Bellingsworth Company, Cramp &
Sons and the Union Works, OF San
Francisco. This was the plan finally
adopted by me. Many of the arrange
ments OF the shius have been changed
conforming them to our types; bat
the machinery will be duplicated in
two of those that are now under con-
tract. The effect has been, in my
Judgment, to call the attention of our
own people to the fact that we have
not kept up to the proper standard in
the way of producing power for ma
chinery. In the case of the Boston
and Atlanta, the guarantee of the con-
tractor is that with 664 tons Of maChn-
cry, he will produce $500 horse power.
The guarantee OF the contractor who
is reproducing the:Naniwa-Ksn's ma
chinery is that with 7l0 tons he will
produce 1000 horse power, and in the
case OF cruiser No. 3, also foreign ma
chinery, the guarantee is that with
900 tons 5000 horse power shall be
produced. 1t will be seen that the
effectiveness of the machinery in pro.
ducinR horse power Is nearly twice
that n CURED by the contract upon the
Boston and Atlanta. In these latter
cases one ton of machinery is guaTan-
teed to produce little over five horse
power, and in the cases of cruisers
Nos, 9 and 8 q ton is guaranteed to
produce nearly ten horse power. All
this, it will be seen, Is stimula ing to
our own people, and in the end they
will succeed in doing as well, or bet
ter, than these results show" The
Secretary characteriEss as ridiculous
the idea that the department. adver-
tisement soliciting the submission OF
designs can be regarded 10 an attempt
to bride foreign naval officers, and on
this point he Gays: "The advertise.
ment simply copied statute passed in
1882 which provided that be-
fore any of the vessels hereby
author. zsd shall be contracted for
or commenced, the Secretary OF the
Navy shall by proper advertisement
and notice invite all engineers and
mechanics OF established reputation